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LinkedIn IPO

The red-hot success of recent IPOs by internet companies has investors feeling lucky. But like every bubble, Dot-Bomb version 2.0 will leave investors bruised and banker laughing. Here's how you can avoid getting burned, and cash in on the trends driving these stocks without taking on all the risk.

Zillow's stock more than tripled after its IPO Wednesday, then fell back to settle up a mere 79% at the close. Initial public offerings have become a way to make huge profits in the market, if investors have the stomach for extreme risk -- and the access to buy in.

Trefis currently has a $30 price estimate for LinkedIn stock -- about a third of the market price. Why the disparity? Take a look at the prospects for the three businesses that bring in the vast majority of LinkedIn's revenue, and the answer becomes clear.

LinkedIn made its initial public offering Thursday, and soared immediately to more than twice its target price as Wall Street swooned over the stock. But IPOs are happening fairly regularly again after a recessionary lull: Why is there so much fuss over one not-so-major social networking site?

Trefis put a value estimate of $30 a share on LinkedIn as it launched its IPO Thursday. Shares actually opened at $83, raced past $100, and closed at $94.25. Wondering why the Trefis estimate is so much lower? Let's re-examine the fundamentals, and how they arrived at that number.

Fueled by strong investor demand, LinkedIn bumped up its IPO pricing range by nearly 30% to between $42 and $45 a share on Tuesday, according to its filing with the SEC. The business-focused social networking giant previously had set its initial pricing range at $32 to $35 a share on May 9.

LinkedIn threw investors a bone on Monday, releasing the initial pricing range for its long-awaited IPO. But the business-focused social networking site is likely to bump up both the price range and the number of shares on offer before it goes public next week.

You'd think investors would be frothing at the mouth for any IPOs in the social media sector. But only a few players look serious about going public soon, and investors aren't putting as much pressure on them to jump as you'd expect.

When I first heard of LinkedIn as a tech reporter in the early 2000s, I dismissed it as a Friendster for business. Wrong. Since then, LinkedIn has proved to be a disrupter of the entire recruiting market. And its coming IPO shows just how vital social networking is becoming.

LinkedIn has snapped up recommendation start-up mSpoke, marking the first acquisition in the white-collar social-networking site's seven-year history as it aims for growth. It could also set LinkedIn on a path toward a public offering.